(File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Road work now complete

Wearing Road access to waste management facility re-opens

Jul 20, 2023 | 4:10 PM

The City of North Battleford said Wearing Road has re-opened after nearly three weeks of necessary upgrades.

The cost to rehabilitate this main road, which runs off Territorial Drive to access the city’s waste management facility, came in considerably over budget, council heard at this week’s meeting.

Director of Operations Stewart Schafer noted the project cost ended up being about twice the original estimate of $200,000 since so much extra gravel was needed for the work.

“The plan was to use the existing gravel for the road,” he said. “When the contractor got on there to try to push the gravel off, all they found was clay and dirt. There wasn’t any [existing gravel to use]. They did rebuild the road. It took them a little more than they thought it would. They did have a clause in the agreement that if it would take more [gravel to do the job], they would charge a little bit more.”

Schafer added most of the existing gravel was already incorporated into the road surface base, and couldn’t be extracted to use for the project. So, new gravel was required, increasing the cost substantially.

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Finance Director Margarita Pena noted the city will be able to use part of its federal Gas Tax Fund for the overage.

She said since the work involves a major reconstruction of the road, it qualifies for the funding.

City Manager Randy Patrick related the city has until December 2024 to use up its gas tax funding, so could apply some of that money for the extra cost, since it hasn’t all been allocated yet.

Council authorized administration’s recommendation.

Coun. Bill Ironstand commented it’s a priority road, so the work must get done.

“It’s something we have to sadly approve because we need that main road [since] all the temporary access roads in are proving to be dangerous,” he said.

Coun. Greg Lightfoot noted, as a positive, all the extra rain the city received Monday night would likely help workers be able to pound in the extra gravel into the road surface, “so the surface will be even that much stronger.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow